3 March 2015 Sunless Sea

HEXA life spent sailing the briny deep can lead to breathtaking discovery and starvation-fuelled madness in the top-down exploration of Sunless Sea...Set in the foreboding darkness of a vast underground sea called The Unterzee, you play a ship's captain who must chart its mysterious inky-black waters.

BAJODeveloper, Failbetter Games describes Sunless Sea as a 2D nautical roguelike, but I don't think that's a great description for what is quite a peculiar and unique game. For starters, there's the irresistible pull of steering your ship into the unknown. You'll face monsters, pirates, and face strange random events. You'll discover ominous islands, and looming landmarks, meet odd characters, and slowly start to build a story as you accept quests and deliver cargo between mysterious ports you've discovered.

HEXAt the heart of this is a "choose your own adventure" style of interactive fiction that has a delicious literary quality to it. It evokes the work of authors like HG Wells and HP Lovecraft, weaving together strange and eerie tales through verbose descriptions and dialogue. You get to create your captain's backstory, and choose a life goal to pursue, such as finding your father's lost remains.

BAJOAll throughout your salty sea career, the game places decisions in front of you - some clear, some cryptic - but usually, multiple, multiple options! A lot of the time your options are locked because you don't YET meet the requirements - such as having a particular item in your ship's cargo. Hex, it's so intriguing trying to unlock these little threads.

HEXYeah, I love how much choice there is, and how some carry a huge risk of failure. Sometimes your only option is to just to sail away and come back later when more of the pieces have fallen into place. But your time at sea is fraught with risk too - because you're always low on fuel and supplies.

BAJOThe Unterzee is not a friendly place, but it is oh so alluring. So often I knew I was going to run out of fuel, but I couldn't resist pushing on into the darkness in the hope of making a fascinating new discovery.

HEXAt one point I was somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and ran out of food, so I opted to eat a crewmember. It actually opened up these creepy cannibal options in future quests, which was pretty cool! I'm tainted, Bajo, tainted by the taste of sweet flesh!

BAJOWhatever gets you back to port, I say. If you do get stranded though, all hope is not lost. You can attract attention with a flare; appease mysterious gods; or burn whatevers left of your food for a bit of fuel. But more often than not you go down with your ship. And then there are the giant sharks to worry about!

HEXThe ship combat is pretty basic, but I still found it fun - you just wait for your deck weapon to charge up and "get a lock" before firing; manouvering a good positioning is crucial. You're always in half a mind about wasting fuel on a fight. But there is, of course, the lure of plunder!

BAJOI like the decision process, like sometimes I'd go full steam ahead to get away from an enemy encounter, but then you run the risk of your engine exploding and the ship catching on fire. Ugggh!

HEXAND it's permadeath. But at least your next captain is an heir or acquaintance, so you can pass on a legacy or some perks - like your current sea chart to make the next run a bit easier.

BAJOI really liked that, I thought it takes some of the sting out of death.

HEXYeah, and different playthroughs result in a different mix of crewmembers too. And they all have their own weird sub-quests to pursue, if you're willing to deviate from your own course of action!

BAJOAnother thing to contend with in the Unterzee is an accumulating sense of "Terror"; this builds the longer you're away from land, or if you sail with your light off, which you might do to avoid the attention of sea monsters, or even if a quest decision takes a spooky turn. Your Terror is always building, and it can lead to mutiny or madness.

HEXI thought that was a clever mechanic - AND it adds to the creepy atmosphere.

BAJOYeah, this game is full of weird consequences isn't it! Each island you discover has its own bizarre story thread to explore and you can never predict the outcome.

HEXAnd those tales actually become currency. All your encounters earn you Fragments, and you need a certain number of fragments to form "Secrets" - and these can be traded. I think it's a lovely idea that your seafaring tales become this valuable commodity that you can use to earn influence.

BAJOThere's a tonne of good ideas in this game isn't there, but I just found the whole thing so slow - like 'go make a cup of tea and come back' slow. The ship you start out with putts along a very gentle pace - and it feels like a huge grind to buy a better engine or weapon upgrades, let alone trade for a superior vessel. Hex, I found it ponderous.

HEXWell, it did take me a few hours of play before I started to really "get" this game, Bajo - but once I did, I was hooked. Like a siren's song, calling me back to my PC.

BAJOI did find it frustrating that every time you create a new captain you effectively have to restart the whole narrative from the beginning - so you end up retracing those same quests over and over, in the hope of getting just a fraction further.

HEXI know, but it does get easier each time; you start to learn where all the ports are, and where the little storylines go. And I found that there were enough random elements to keep it surprising. What really makes this work so well for me is the quality of the writing - it's just so imaginative, and creates such a rich atmosphere. Even those little log entries off to the side are great. I suspect that not everyone will have the patience for all this required reading though.

BAJOYeah, it's pretty dense! After a while I started skimming.

HEXIt's rewarding - if you have the patience for it.

BAJOI admire this games' originality, I think it's worth two and a half out of five stars.